The short and tragic life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, by Jeff Hobbs

Jeff Hobbs was Robert Peace’s roommate at Yale thirteen years ago.  The book is non-fiction, although Hobbs carefully points out that conversations he didn’t hear are imaginatively recreated using the best possible information from others’ remembrances of his friend.  Robert DeShawn Peace grew up in a tough African-American area near Newark.  He lived with his mother and grandparents – the mother didn’t have her first and only child until she was 30 and refused to marry his father, “Skeet,” realizing that his street life was not one that she wanted to be associated with that closely.  When Robert is about seven, Skeet is imprisoned for murder.  Robert, known as Shawn amongst his friends, is brilliant and his mother’s determined efforts get him admitted to a private Catholic prep school that will nurture his gifts.  He attends Yale on money given by a benefactor who was impressed with the young man’s potential in his high school years.  But he is unable to leave the street life behind, dealing minor amounts of marijuana during college, and returning very frequently to his home to help his mother and hang with his friends there.  He does well at Yale but after graduation he never seems to find himself. From the title, the reader knows where this is heading.  Despite his intellectual gifts, his good work ethic, and his supportive network, Rob never fulfills his early promise and spirals downwards despite his efforts to rise to a middle-class productive life.  His death is, indeed, a tragedy.   In the light of recent events in our area, this is a particularly instructive – and depressing – book to read at this time.  What are the answers to the overwhelming effects of poverty and history?  416 pp.